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FRANK ELTMAN

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. (AP) — At first glance, the green plastic ginger ale bottle on the beach looked just like another of the billions of pieces of debris splayed across Northeast coastlines after Superstorm Sandy.

But this bottle, which would fetch a nickel at the recycling center, is worth everything to a grieving mother who knew instantly from the silly adolescent message inside that it had come from her daughter, who died in 2010: "Be excellent to yourself, dude!"

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — A New York man once dubbed by prosecutors as the government's most wanted deadbeat parent pleaded guilty Thursday to owing more than $1.2 million to three children from two failed marriages.

Robert Sand, 50, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Central Islip on Long Island to two counts of failing to pay child support. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Bode said in court that the child support orders, which were issued on Long Island, have been in arrears since at least 2002.

FARMINGVILLE, N.Y. — Stranded for hours on a snow-covered road, Priscilla Arena prayed, took out a sheet of loose-leaf paper and wrote what she thought might be her last words to her husband and children.

MINEOLA, N.Y. — Justin Bieber appears in a new anti-cyberbullying video released Wednesday by a New York prosecutor as part of a plea deal resolving misdemeanor charges against one the pop star's managers and a record executive, stemming from a mall fan frenzy in 2009.

They were arrested after police ordered a Bieber autograph session at a clothing store shut down over fears someone could get hurt. More than 3,000 teens and younger girls had arrived by 1 p.m. for an event scheduled for 4 p.m., leading to the cancellation.

STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Their motto is “shock the world.” So far, so good for the Stony Brook Seawolves.

Stony Brook University, which began playing a Division I schedule only in 2000, is headed to the College World Series after pulling off a stunning upset of perennial baseball powerhouse LSU before 10,000 Tigers supporters in Baton Rouge, La.

MINEOLA, N.Y. — Students taking college entrance exams this fall will have to submit photo IDs with their applications — a key security upgrade following recent allegations of widespread cheating at a number of high schools on New York’s Long Island, a prosecutor and testing officials announced today.